Three Gifts
by Pseudo Twili
Summary: Three pairs of travelers search for something across the wilds of Hyrule. One young man gives them each a gift more special than they thought.
1. Tye & Sorelia

_This is a story of giving. Giving from the heart and without the thought of receiving anything in return. This is a story of three sets of travelers from BotW and the young man who gave them more than they could ever have expected._

 _BotW still belongs to Nintendo. 'Cause y'know, I wouldn't have to write fan fiction if I owned more than a copy of the game._

* * *

 **Three Gifts - by Pseudo Twili**

All Tye and Sorelia set out to do was to find a living silent princess which they could pluck together and carry it home with them as a testament to their love. Tye had proposed the mission, and of course his comely wife would not let him set foot from their cottage door without her by his side. They braved many a storm, nights in the cold, and the discomforts of the road. What nearly finished them, however, was a surprise attack by monsters.

"Run, Sorelia!" Tye grunted as he held up his shield just in time.

He was the only one with a weapon, as he thought he could protect his bride from anything they came across. She sprinted away, one blue bokoblin at her heels, but she did not run far because she would not leave her husband. Tye was half distracted from the enemy who kept striking his shield with its club; he needed to kill the monster and rescue Sorelia, but just the one was proving to be more than a match for him. She screamed again, barely dodging the bokoblin's clumsy swing. Every part of Tye's being was invested in the match and it did not occur to him to ask for help; it was Sorelia who saw their great need and sent one breathless plea heavenward.

"Help us, Hylia!"

Then, as she ran through the field grasses, she tripped on something she could not see. Even as the breath left her body in a sudden jolt and her hands met roughly with the ground, she was sure she had but a few moments left to live. She expected to feel the blow of a club, but it never came; instead she heard the sound of something slicing through the air, followed by a slight noise from the bokoblin and then a thud.

She sucked in the breath for which her lungs yearned and twisted around, her hands and knees smarting and her heartbeat echoing in her ears. The blue monster that had so nearly felled her lay on the ground, itself slain by an arrow through the head. Her heart gave a leap of hope and she pushed herself up from the ground, her eyes wildly searching for her beloved.

Tye's left hand was beginning to feel numb after blocking so many blows. He heard Sorelia scream; a bolt of rage and fear seared him as if with an iron. He struck fiercely at the bokoblin, but still the monster was hardly fazed. The sword in his right hand was doing him as little good as it did for his beloved wife! A hot, anguished tear trickled down his cheek.

Suddenly, something or someone came up from seemingly nowhere, struck the blue bokoblin once, twice, three times; the creature let out a squeal, the last sound it would ever make before it perished. Tye stood for a split second, his whole being shaking, before he dropped his sword and shield, turned, and sought out his wife with eyes that would not stay dry.

Then he saw her, and his heart gave a great leap, for she was already racing through the grasses toward him. When they met each other, she threw her arms around him and he around her. Her tears flowed freely, dampening the front of his tunic; he no longer blinked his away, but let them trickle down and land in her hair.

"Sorelia!"

"Dearest Tye!"

When finally they parted, Sorelia giving her husband a sweet kiss and he reciprocating it, they turned to see who and what it was that had saved them. Their rescuer was stooped down, picking up the spoils left by the monsters. When he straightened, the couple could see he was a warrior of some sort, with a tremendous bow slung over his back, a sword that glowed with a holy blue light, and a shield with a triumphant scarlet bird emblazoned upon it. His face was young but he had a certain alertness about him and he held himself with the sureness and readiness of a soldier. His tawny hair, a bit long and unkempt, moved slightly in the breeze. He wore plain trousers, boots scuffed up with the dust and grime of travel, and a red cap and tunic that looked like they'd been dyed the exact color of mushrooms. Some white fluffy stuff lined the brim of his cap, giving the traveler a festive look.

Their arms locked and with Tye's other hand on Sorelia's arm, the couple moved toward the stranger, their faces alight with relief and gratitude. He saw them approaching, grinned and held up his hand in greeting.

"How can we ever thank you for saving us?" Tye said, and much to his embarrassment, he sniffled.

Sorelia leaned a little closer to her beloved. "Thank you, kind sir. Without you, my husband and I would surely have met our end."

The stranger seemed to be embarrassed. He put his weapon away and rubbed his head, sheepishly.

"Is there any way we can repay you?" questioned Tye. "We have no money but there must be something we can do."

"Would you care to share a meal with us? We have plenty to go around."

The traveler's eyes brightened and his grin returned at the mere mention of food. He nodded immediately.

The three of them gathered around the fire which Tye had lit shortly before the bokoblins ambushed them. Sorelia resumed with her preparation of their humble meal. Her husband remained at her side like a prickly weed seed, and she was grateful for his presence. She looked up at the stranger, whose eyes were focused on the cooking pot.

"I'm Sorelia and this is my husband, Tye. What are you called, good traveler?"

"Link," he replied.

"I hope you like risotto, Sir Link," she said as she dug around in her pack for the wild rice she and her husband had cut from a field the day before.

The swordsman licked his lips. "I love risotto." He watched unabashedly as she put the rice, butter and salt into the large cooking pot. "Erm… I have some supplies with me, if you'd like to use them in your dish."

"You've already done so much for us," Tye said. "We cannot possibly accept any…more… What is it dear?"

Sorelia ceased tugging at his arm and sent him a meaningful glance. "I would be glad to add whatever you'd like," she said.

While Link searched through his pouch, she gave her husband another look, one that told him he shouldn't refuse the young man anything when he had saved both their lives, even if it meant giving up on a matter of pride. She turned her attention back to the pot again, and Tye watched at the swordsman took a great many things from his pouch: swords, bows, clothing, a huge assortment of foodstuffs and some disgusting looking items that couldn't possible be edible, could they? He had to wonder how Link stored everything in that pouch of his.

With a nod from Sorelia, the swordsman broke up a couple different kinds of mushrooms and let them fall into the pot. Several minutes later, the risotto was ready, and she used a big wooden spoon to dish it onto three worn and slightly chipped plates which Tye brought to her from one of their packs. The couple was surprised and amused by the voracious appetite of their guest. He consumed the contents of his plate while theirs were still half full, and he didn't even pause in helping himself to more. The pot emptied quickly and Sorelia made more; this time Link threw in crab meat and carrots.

As they ate, the husband and wife explained their mission, waiting, as they had with everyone else, for a lecture and a warning about how dangerous it was to travel. Link, however, said nothing and merely continued to shovel the food into his mouth. He said about three words during the whole meal, but he paid ready ear to every one that Tye and Sorelia uttered. He even made a third pot of risotto, using ingredients from his pouch, after he had polished off the second batch.

When at last he seemed to have satisfied himself, he set down his plate and gave a rather large burp. "Excuse me," he said, for he did not usually have to worry about his manners when he was traveling.

Sorelia took the plates and gave them a quick cleaning; she peeked into the cooking pot and saw that it was once more empty. Meanwhile, the two men moved away from the campfire and Link began to give Tye some tips on combat. They sparred as an hour trickled by, with Link taking the part of a bokoblin and telling Tye what to watch out for. From a relatively safe distance, Sorelia observed them with eyes that took in every detail and movement.

"The bokoblins are stupid and often leave their backs unguarded," Link explained. "If you can get behind it, or knock its shield away, you'll kill it much easier."

The traveler seemed to have boundless energy, it seemed to Tye. Sorelia was beginning to nod off, and he himself felt like he'd run a marathon with someone on his back. Link glimpsed his weariness and suggested that they cease their training session.

"You're good," Tye admitted frankly. "Better than I could ever hope to be. And you're not a bad hand at instruction either; have you done that sort of thing before?"

Link's eyebrows scrunched together and he frowned as if he was trying to remember something. "I…might have…once."

"Would you care to spend the night with us? I'm afraid all we have to offer is the ground, but we would be honored."

The swordsman agreed with a nod. While Tye and Sorelia settled down under the slanted blanket-tent the former had staked up, Link propped himself against the trunk of a tree, covered his lower half with a blanket and stared up at the stars. He responded with a quiet and somewhat distant response when the couple bid him a good night. They, however, did not pry and were glad to fall into slumber while they held each other in their arms.

Early the next morning when Tye and Sorelia awoke, the traveler was gone. Resting at the base of the tree where he had slept, he had left the shield with the red bird and a magnificent sword with a golden hilt and purple scabbard. Resting on top of sword and shield was a blue and white flower which glowed softly and mesmerizingly in the pale light of the dawn. Sorelia glanced at her husband, whose loss for words was identical to hers. He picked up the sword and shield and stared at them as if he'd been given a piece of the heavens.

"Look, there's a note," she murmured, reaching for the scrap of paper tucked halfway into the scabbard.

The writing had been formed quickly and on an uneven surface. _To the couple whose love would rival those in the storybooks, and which will never cease to inspire me. This sword and shield are for you. Don't worry, I can get more of them anytime. You need them more than I do._ And it was signed simply, _Link_. _P.S. This is what the silent princess looks like. May the goddess guide you on your journey to find one of your own_.

* * *

 _I really wanted to write a Christmas story this year, and since I've still been playing some Breath of the Wild a little bit here and there, I settled on that. As I wrote this it naturally turned out a bit longer than I initially thought. (When doesn't that happen to me, anyway?!) I intended this to be a one-shot, but then I got the idea to publish each section separately. You can expect to see the next gift tomorrow and the third on the day after. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!_

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12-25-2018 ~ Published


	2. Mina & Mils

_Here's the second gift, as I promised. Enjoy!_

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 **Three Gifts - by Pseudo Twili**

"Have at you!"

"Vermin!"

"Careful, Mina, these monsters are tougher than those others!"

"Keep your own eyes ahead, Mils! Don't lecture me!"

As the two Hylians faced off against the bokoblins they seemed to holding their own pretty well, though they weren't making much progress. The bokos were hardly scratched and kept grinning and lolling their tongues as they repeatedly beat at the siblings' shields. Mina and Mils' faces were grim, for they knew all too well how resilient and persistent the bokoblins were. The fight took place in a little ruin at a fork in the road, and they were a good mile or more from the nearest patrolling guardian. The last thing they'd need would be one of those automatons breaking into the fray.

A rumbling sound gradually reached their ears and they were at a loss as to what it was. A doubly nervous Mils spared one quick look in the direction from which he thought the noise was coming, dreading what he might see. His worst fear was that an ancient, mechanized terror was headed right for them. All that he spotted was a cloud of dust, before the bokoblin's club met his shield, the latter of which made a crunching sound and felt flimsier on Mils' arm.

He glanced over at his sister, who was focused on her bokoblin, getting in a blow of her own whenever she could and shouting out names that didn't even faze the enemy. It was not the time to tell her that his shield was about to fall to pieces. The throaty rumbling sound was only getting louder, but he didn't dare look away again.

"I could use a little help now," he said between gritted teeth. "A new shield would be nice..."

Another blow from the spiked club and Mils' shield fell apart in his hands. He half jumped, half fell back, trying to avoid the rest of the momentum of the swing. Before the bokoblin could follow up, however, the cloud of dust and whatever it hid was upon him and the monster; emerging from the haze came a figure that chopped down the bokoblin with a single strike. Then the same figure launched himself into the air and slew Mina's bokoblin with three arrows fired at once.

"Phew… That was a close one," Mils muttered to himself as he stared at the pieces of his shield.

The dust settled quickly, revealing a young man in red cap and tunic, whom Mils guessed to be near his own or his sister's age. The stranger was busy picking up the various materials the bokoblins had left upon their demise. Mils turned his eyes toward Mina, who was as unscathed as his shield was not; he breathed a sigh of relief even though he knew a stupid, lowly bokoblin couldn't get past her defenses.

She glared at the newcomer. "Funny, I don't recall asking for your help," she grumbled. "Hmph. I daresay my brother will call _me_ the rude one if I don't thank you somehow. Fine, here!"

Fishing around in one of the side compartments of her pack, she extracted a hunk of amber and tossed it in the general direction of their rescuer. He had to leap up to catch it, but he didn't even look at it as he put it into his own pocket.

"Thanks for the save," Mils said, stepping nearer to the other young man. He looked woefully back at the wood that had been his emblazoned shield. That thing had been with him for some time and he realized he was going to miss it. "I don't know where I would have been if you hadn't come along. Nowhere good, that's for sure. Thanks."

"We're not here for a chin wag!" Mina shouted as she moved closer to the two ruined buildings. "Hurry it up, Mils!"

He twisted his head toward her. "In a minute, sis." Facing the stranger again, he said, "Well, you know my name now, and that's my sister, Mina."

"I'm Link," replied the traveler, extending his hand.

Mils looked down at the proffered fingers and suddenly remembered his manners. After shaking hands, he again eyed the contraption on which Link had entered the scene. It looked a little bit like a horse with glowing orange and blue spots all over it, though considerably smaller and with two wheels instead of the customary legs. It hadn't moved from the spot in which Link had left it, but it seemed to throb with a pulse that Mils thought was rather like a heartbeat or like that of some bokoblin guts.

"What is that thing? Is it yours?"

"Yep," the swordsman replied, striding over and proudly rubbing the handlebars with the palm of his hand. "It was given to me by this super old monk guy. It's called the Master Cycle Zero."

"Whoa…" Mils breathed, and at a nod from Link, he too touched it. "Is it…alive?"

"Alive? You mean like you or me, or like that boko was? Nah. It's a machine, well, kinda like the guardians."

A wide-eyed Mils snatched his hand back as if a wolf had snapped at it. "It's not going to start shooting lasers, is it?" he queried as he began to back away. "Oh, I knew we needed to get somewhere safe!"

Link chuckled. "No, it doesn't have any lasers. It has a headlight though."

He flipped a tiny switch and a light burst forth from the front of the Master Cycle. He directed it toward the crumbling wall of the ruin; it was easier to see because the sky was so overcast. Mils stepped into the light and then stumbled back, blinking at the spots that appeared before his eyes.

"Whoa, you could probably blind a bokoblin with that thing!" he said with the beginnings of a grin.

"It's happened a few times," Link admitted. He swung a leg over the seat and gripped the handlebars. "Want to go for a ride?"

"It won't start shooting lasers at us? Or try to buck us off?"

Link shook his head. Mils sighed and seemed to be weighing his options, but his curiosity about the vibrating machine was too much for him. There wasn't enough room for him to sit behind Link, so he had to put his feet up and half crouched, half stood behind the rider. As soon as he was settled, Link started off, going slow at first but gradually picking up some speed as he alternatively rode through the grass and over the dirt road. The engine purred and the two young men didn't seem to hear Mina's aggravated shouts. Mils exulted in the feeling of the wind whipping by and hum of the ancient machine.

After several minutes of going in semi circles and loops, the owner of the bike pulled to a stop and they both dismounted. "Want to try it on your own?" he asked.

A minute later, after some quick instructions, Mils was by himself on the Master Cycle and accelerating slowly while he accustomed himself to the controls. His brow was furrowed in concentration, but his eyes shone with all the interest of a little boy playing with a new toy. He was amazed at how smooth the ride felt, how effortless the machine covered the distance. He was conscious of an impulse to keep riding, keep going until he was forced to stop at the ends of world, but he'd hardly gone the smallest fraction of that distance when beneath him the Master Cycle disappeared in many twirling cords of blue light. Mils suddenly found himself on the ground and completely at a loss as to why he was there.

Link came sprinting up behind him. "Sorry about that. It does that when I get a certain distance from it."

Picking himself up, Mils grumbled, "So if you're not riding it, it disappears? A little warning would have been nice. Where'd it go?"

"Actually, I think it's tied to my Sheikah slate," the swordsman said, unhooking the device from his belt. "If they're too far apart, the bike disappears. I just have to summon it again."

He tapped at the little glowing screen and a second later the Master Cycle materialized in the same blue strands of ancient technology. Mils mounted it again and this time Link crouched behind him. They rode around the ruin and the field, sometimes hooting and shouting with boyish glee. Not even Link wanted to stop when he noticed the sound of the engine was getting rougher, more throaty. A minute later, the lights on the bike went out and they coasted to a stop. No matter how many times Mils pressed the throttle he could not budge it an inch.

"It's out of fuel," Link explained, as his boots met the ground. "Hmm… I wonder what I should put in this time…"

Mils dismounted as well. "What do you usually use?"

"Oh, anything," the swordsman replied with a shrug as he dug around in his pouch. "Apples, wood, ancient parts, meat, plants, star fragments…whatever I have on hand. It'll take anything."

To demonstrate, he tossed a slightly misshapen apple into the machine's fuel tank; the ancient technology lit up again and resumed its mechanical purring. Then he added some sticks of wood he picked up from the ground, and a screw he'd taken from a guardian. The young men then proceeded to ride the bike and experiment with all sorts of items thrown into the tank. They tried acorns, rock salt, and flowers, a grasshopper Mils accidentally ran into, bokoblin guts and horns, and even a star fragment Link had.

Their testing was abruptly cut short, however, when Mina grabbed her brother's ear and pulled him away. "That's enough, Mils! I've been breaking my back over there hunting for treasure and you've been goofing around!" she chided him without remorse.

"Ow, ow, let go!" he groaned.

"Get back to work, you!" she said, and released his ear. "Or I'll really give you something to be nervous about!"

He clapped a hand over the smarting ear. "Ugh… Family," he muttered, but all the same he began searching through a pile of rubble.

Meanwhile, Link put away the many materials he had taken out of his pockets. He glanced up at the sky, noting how the clouds had grown even darker. Instead of mounting his bike again and riding away, he took shelter in one of the ruined buildings, one that had a roof which was mostly intact. Withdrawing a couple bundles of wood from his pouch, he threw them together and lit them quickly with a flaming weapon.

After the clouds had been threatening for the last few hours, a light sprinkle began to fall. Mina gave her brother a warning look, one that forbade him to mention finding shelter from the rain. He sighed again and continued with his search, mumbling something his sister could not hear.

The rain gradually picked up as the sky finally unleashed all the wrath and fury it had been holding back. They began to hear thunder in the distance, which only grew louder and the lightning strikes came closer. That was when Mils threw in the towel. Both he and his sister were equipped with metal gear, and as any traveler worth his salt knew that being exposed to the sky in a thunderstorm with metal on one's person was an invitation to shockingly hasty demise.

He made a dash for the same open-sided shelter which Link occupied. Mina followed him moments later and her glare was almost worse than the danger of the lightning. She viewed her brother and the swordsman with a chilly look.

"If you think you can get on my better side by offering us food and a fire, you've got a bug in your brain," she said, and seated herself in the furthest corner from the crackling flames.

Mils tried to reason with her but she would not be swayed. Finally he gave up and returned to Link and the wondrous things he was grilling over the fire. The two young men enjoyed a satisfactory meal and Mina stubbornly munched away at some cheese and cold meat from her pack.

"Are you here hunting for treasure, too?" Mils asked after swallowing a bite of seared steak.

"Nah," the swordsman replied, polishing off his third baked apple and tossing the tiny bit of core into the fire. "I guess you could say I've found treasure of a sort though."

"You haven't gone near the castle, have you? That place is dangerous, crawling with guardians! I get nervous just thinking about them."

"I've been there," was his nonchalant response.

Mils eyes widened hugely and a bit of mushroom fell from his open mouth. "You must be mad! I can't believe you're here to talk about it. Was there some amazing treasure to be found there?"

"What I found was better than any treasure." Link's eyes were somewhat distant and cloudy, as if he was remembering something from the past. After a moment he shook himself. "You know what kind of treasure is the best? The kind that has a purpose!"

"Yeah, like the kind you can sell for a handy sum."

"Those are easy enough to come by. I mean something you can use—or eat!"

From his pouch, Link pulled out another star fragment, which Mils recognized as one of the items they'd inserted in the Master Cycle's fuel tank. The swordsman lifted the warmly glowing fragment to his mouth and bit off the end of one of its dulled points. He then handed it to Mils, who nearly dropped it. He looked it over, noticing how light and yet how dense it seemed to be and how it pulsed with a serene, golden luminance. It seemed almost criminal to eat such an item but Link had, so he took a bite too. It melted immediately in his mouth, with only a little bit of crunch remaining. The taste was like nothing he'd ever had or even dreamed about; it was like candy except that it was only slightly sweet. He thought the closest thing it could come to was the pungent, pitchy taste of evergreen needles, or like being thirsty for hours and having a drink of the purest spring water.

"Mina, you have to try this!" he called to her.

She merely narrowed her eyes at him. He handed the fragment back to Link and they both took a few more nibbles. Then Mils said something quietly to him, the swordsman nodded and tossed the glowing item to Mina. She caught it, more out of reflex than anything else. The young men turned their backs, leaving her free to have a taste without their scrutiny.

They talked about some of the things they'd seen in their travels. Mils mentioned Hyrule Castle again and Link told him how to avoid being murdered by guardians. If just one of those ancient machines targeted you, it was fairly simple to either avoid it or to dismantle it. An arrow to the eye was an effective way to stun it, removing most or all of its legs severely restricted its movement, and something as simple as a properly executed shield parry would turn the guardian's deadly beam back on itself.

Though the thunderstorm faded away, the rain had increased to a veritable downpour, continuing even as night fell. Not even Mina wanted to go out in the dark and the bone-chilling rain. Eventually the three travelers fell asleep, using whatever sort of blankets they had in their packs and warmed further by the fire.

The next morning, the siblings awoke to find that their companion was gone. "Good riddance," Mina muttered, but her brother wore a frown.

At the side of the fire where Link had slept lay a couple of items and a note. Mils picked up the paper and his sister snatched it from him. _To the siblings who know what the greatest treasure is. Here's a shield and a bow for you. May they keep you safe in your travels. If ever you want to find another star fragment, look to the night sky. A shooting star will show you the way. Best stay clear of the castle for now. I haven't cleared out all the guardians yet._

"Hmph. Who does he think he is, telling us what to do?" Mina grumbled, even though she'd told her brother that same thing more times than they'd been attacked by monsters.

Meanwhile, Mils was admiring the shield, a disc-like item that seemed much too small to be such a thing. However, when he touched it, it opened up like a fan and some glowing blue material formed a full-size shield. The bow was massive and made from gray metal with edges that looked like they could cut just about anything. He couldn't even pull the string back halfway. Lying next to the bow were a couple dozen arrows that would open up with the same blue glow when he touched them.

Mina tested the bow for herself; she could pull it back just a bit further than her brother. "I'll take this," she declared. "You need a new shield anyway."

She was still in a bad mood, which when she gave into it almost always led to a bad decision. One time it had been climbing up a mountain when a bad storm was on the way. This time it was venturing a little closer to the castle, but where they would still have the cover of trees or ruined buildings. Mils tried to protest, to remind her of the caution she'd long since drilled into him, but she was having none of it.

They were doing all right, searching through some of the ruins near the old garrison. He was doing the dirty work and she was standing against a wall, saying she was keeping an eye out, but in truth she was moping like a little child who hadn't gotten her way. She did not hear the slight mechanical clanks of a guardian as it came up behind her, until suddenly she saw a large red dot appear on her brother's back. She whirled and glimpsed the terrifying thing much closer than she ever wanted to see one.

She turned back to her brother in an instant. "Mils, run! Guardian! Get to cover!" she screamed, and threw herself flat against the wall.

She watched in growing, mind-numbing horror as her brother fled in the opposite direction of the guardian, which was also away from any cover he might have hidden behind. Her heart leaped to her throat as the autonomous mechanism crawled over the wall behind which she cowered, closing in on Mils. Later she was sure she'd shouted something in those two unendurable seconds but she could never remember what the words had been.

The guardian fired its beam and Mina shrieked so loud she strained her vocal chords. She was so stricken with grief and guilt that she didn't take into account that the laser was reflected back at the automation, which struck both it and one of its legs. She leapt up, screamed at the guardian and hardly knowing what she was doing, drew back the bow with one of the special arrows the traveler had left behind. Recovering as if from a tremendous blow, the guardian seemed to sense her, either by her movements or the vibrations caused by her voice, and began to target her.

"You killed him!" she screamed.

In all her rage and desperation, she managed to pull the string of the bow further than she had before. Her hand was shaking as she took deliberate and slow aim, not wanting to let her brother's death go unavenged. The ancient arrow unfurled as it flew, and even its path seemed to correct itself slightly as it headed straight for the blue eye of the guardian.

As soon as she realized that she'd actually stopped it, she didn't even wait while the machine clanked and whirred madly before it shut down completely. She pelted around the thing and to her brother's side, hot tears squeezing out of her eyes. She was expecting to see something horrible, to see her brother's blackened corpse; she nearly fell over when he sat up as she dashed up. She stopped and stared for a split second, wondering how it was possible, and then launched herself at him, both hugging and half strangling him.

"You! Why did you do that?! You idiot! You were nearly killed!" she burst out in a cascade of words mixed with tears.

"But I wasn't, thanks to you... I think. Wait, why wasn't I killed? That guardian fired its laser, right?"

They quickly found the answer. In place of the one that had broken, Mils had put the ancient shield Link had given them on his backpack. The shield looked as though it had been hit with something, leaving it slightly darkened, but otherwise was in good condition, glowing a bright blue even in the daylight.

"This thing," Mina murmured in awe as she fingered its contours. "It saved your life!"

* * *

 _I was doing some experimenting with materials in the Master Cycle myself. One handful (5) of star fragments, either of the ancient cores, and/or monster extract will fill the tank completely when empty. Things like wood, apples, and mushrooms require two handfuls (10) to fill it. A lot of the monster parts, insects, other food, gems, and dragon parts are less than that. I usually use wood when I fill up, as I have a plenty, it sells for a measly two rupees each, and I don't have need to make_ that _many campfires._

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12-26-2018 ~ Published


	3. Nat & Meghyn

_Did any of you guess who might star in this next part? Did you guess correctly? Hehe... Enjoy!_

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 **Three Gifts - by Pseudo Twili**

Two female screams echoed through the jungle of Faron. Nat and Meghyn had been searching for hearty truffles, the former with her usual energy and enthusiasm, the latter with grumbling and sighs, when a pair of bokoblins found them. The monsters gave chase and the girls ran, their packs heavy on their backs and their hearts drumming erratic rhythms in their chests.

Nat hid behind one of the jungle's widely-proportioned trees, but even a bokoblin was smart enough to figure out where she'd gone. Meghyn picked up a thick bough and swung it at her aggressor, only to jump back when the creature aimed a much stronger blow at her. She dodged but lost her makeshift weapon.

"Eeek!" Nat shrieked

"Someone help!" Meghyn cried desperately.

The bokoblins seemed to enjoy playing with them as a cat would with a couple of rodents it had caught. Had they been as vicious and powerful as lynels, the girls would have been dead within a minute. As it was, the girls, without any sort of weapon with which they could defend themselves, were tiring in their constant flight. It would just be a matter of time before they could run no more and the enemy would be upon them.

A sound of pounding hooves grew until the girls could hear it even through their terror and distress. A dark purple horse came galloping toward the girls; the rider leaped from its back and immediately the horse reared up, slamming onto one of the bokoblins with its hooves. Meanwhile, the rider seemed to move as if with the speed of hot-footed frog, bashing the second bokoblin with his shield and stabbing the creature through with his sword.

The sisters tripped in their steps as they finally stopped running. Meghyn leaned over, her hands above her knees as she gasped several shaky breaths. Nat checked herself over and found that she was whole and hearty, save for hands that still shook no matter what she did with them. They turned to each other.

"You all right, Meg?"

"Yeah. I never want to have to run like that again, though. I think I busted a lung or something."

"Well, we're alive, so that's what counts. Thanks to that fellow over there," Nat said, and pointed.

The sisters were rather chagrined and disgusted to see that their savior was picking up the guts and such left behind by the monsters, and he was stuffing them into his pockets. Meghyn felt like throwing up and turned her head away quickly.

Nat marched over to the stranger, a young man in red tunic and cap. "Thank you, mister," she said. "You really helped us out of a mess. I'm Nat and this is my sister, Meghyn. We're on the hunt for hearty truffles."

"I'm Link," he replied.

He walked over to his horse and patted her head, calming her after her brief fright. Meghyn came over too and gazed upon the horse who looked back at her with dark eyes that she thought were remarkably friendly.

"Thank you so much for saving us, Mr. Link," Meghyn said. "We don't have anything but our thanks to offer you. Oh, and there's this mushroom I found this morning, if you want it."

She held out a pale blue mushroom that would glow whenever she cupped her hands over it. The swordsman accepted it without hesitation and put it away with the monster guts and horns he'd just picked up. Meghyn found herself wrinkling her nose and scrunching up her mouth.

"Well, time to stop floofing around," Nat declared, giving her sister a tap on the shoulder. "Back to the hunt!"

She marched to the side of a large tree and bent down, digging slightly down into the loose and fertile soil at the base of the trunk. Meghyn rolled her eyes and let her shoulders slump.

"I'm sorry about my sister," she mumbled. "It was her idea to hunt for truffles; no matter what I say she insists on searching until we find them. I guess it's thanks to you and your horse here that we can continue."

She gave Link's purple mount a gentle pat and then joined her sister with a long and weary sigh. The two girls searched thoroughly at the base of first one tree and then another. They made sure to stay near each other to avoid getting separated, as was their custom. They'd gone through perhaps a dozen trees, when Meghyn, her back aching and the perspiration running down her forehead, sat back on her heels. She wiped the sweat out of her eyebrows and allowed her eyes to wander.

"Look, Nat, he's still here," she said, nudging her sister.

Nat, however, didn't take her eyes off the ground. "Who's here? I'm busy searching and you should be too, Meg."

The other girl sighed and went back to work. Every so often she glanced up and through the trees and shrubbery she could see the young swordsman who had saved them was still in the same spot. He had cleared a small space and built a fire, before which he seemed to be quite busy with some activity. His horse grazed happily on the lush foliage but didn't stray too far from her master.

The sun set, leaving the girls in increasing dimness. Meghyn leaned back on her heels again and arched backward. "I've had enough, Nat. I'm not looking any more tonight."

"We can still search," her sister insisted, and pulled out her lantern. "Just let me light this."

"No." Meghyn stood and glared down at her sister. "I'm hungry and I'm tired and my back is killing me. I smell something wonderful over there and I'm going to see what it is."

The spectacularly inviting scent that had been ticking her nose for the last half hour turned out to be the food Link was cooking over his fire. As Meghyn approached she saw just how busy he'd been, for several servings of food lay, still steaming hot, on huge leaves which he had obviously plucked from the trees that sheltered them. A great many flies could have found their way into her mouth as she gaped at the feast just lying on the ground.

"Hey," the swordsman said. "How goes the truffle hunt?"

She didn't seem to hear him. "You made all that?" she mumbled, staring at everything and thinking it looked like something she should know.

"Yep," he replied with a slight grin. "Go on, sit down and help yourself. I was hungry and I've already had some."

Meghyn wasn't sure what to say, but the prospect of something warm to eat was too much to turn down, and she plopped on the ground before she could tell herself to reconsider. Link picked up one of the leaves and held it out to her. She took it and stared down at it as if she had never seen food before.

"That's the best one," he told her. "I got the salt just right on that one."

She lifted one of the dark lumps to her mouth and bit into it cautiously. The taste bloomed in her mouth like a cabbage being peeled back, layer after layer. She suddenly knew what he'd used as his main ingredient, what was on each of the leaves spread out before them. She wasn't sure whether to spit out the mouthful of bliss, to throw her leaf to the earth, stamp her foot and shout at him for what he'd done, or to let herself savor the moment and the taste. She screwed her eyes shut and let the perfectly salted morsel sit in her mouth. Finally she decided to swallow it; the moment it was gone she knew she wanted more.

"Why did you do this?" she asked, her tone accusatory and her eyes pinning him down. "Why'd you make all this? Every bit of it is truffle, I can tell. This will drive Nat crazy!"

"I thought you both might like something good to eat. You've been working all this time. I'm always hungry after I've had a busy day. And I've gathered lots of truffles in my travels, so what better way to use them than to share with someone who would most appreciate them?"

She opened her mouth and shut it again with a snap. Then she stuffed another bite therein and closed her eyes again to savor it. The musky, heady scent of the truffle mixed with the slight, mushroom-like taste and earthy flavor. She loved eating it, yet she also hated it.

"It's my sister's fault we're even here. It was her harebrained idea to hunt for hearty truffles," Meghyn said slowly between bites. "I keep telling her our luck would run out one of these days. Today was nearly that day. But she starts thinking about those truffles and she has visions of all the money we could get for them…if we ever find them. I'm so tired of wandering and searching! And when I tell her I want to go home, she says, 'Not until we find those hearty truffles. Less talking, more hunting!' She's going to be the death of me…"

Link listened to every word she said, nodding his head sometimes and keeping his eyes on her when he didn't have to attend to his fire and the food that he still cooked over it. Meghyn sighed several times during her woeful explanation. She consumed the food on five of the leaves before she started to feel satisfied. All of a sudden, the idea of eating another truffle was to her an extremely repulsive thought.

"Is that smell what I think it is?!" came Nat's voice quite suddenly.

Meghyn jumped, dropping the empty leaf. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Nat, however, just ruffled her sister's hair a bit and sat down next to her, folding her legs up in front of her. "Did you make these for us?" she questioned, eyeing Link.

He nodded and popped another little morsel in his mouth.

She wasted not one second more in helping herself to the contents of the large, thick leaves. She polished off even more than her sister had, but Link still had them both beat in sheer number of truffles consumed.

"Thanks again for your help earlier," Nat said. "We've been in our share of scrapes before, but not quite as bad as that one turned out, with monsters popping out of nowhere. But there's no risk without reward, right?"

"Don't make it sound like all we care about is the money!" Meghyn chided her sister. "What good is money if all it's used for is to bury us?!"

"It'll be fine!" Nat returned, her eyes wide and snapping. "You always worry too much."

They argued back and forth until their eyes couldn't stay open. Meghyn leaned against her sister's shoulder and before long her head slid down to rest in Nat's lap. The girls fell asleep right there, like two small, wearied children who'd had their bellies filled, lulled to the dreamworld by the constant, crackling light of the fire. No one, be it man, beast or monster would disturb their slumbers while the red-capped traveler sat nearby.

The next morning, the girls awoke to find that the fire had been carefully banked and still held some coals in its center. They rose and looked around the trees but found no sign of their companion from the night before. They called his name, but the only response they received was a monkey chattering at them and the agitated cawing of some birds that suddenly took to the skies. Then they heard a neigh and they hurried back to their camping spot.

"He left his horse," Meghyn said, staring at the beautiful animal. She reached up and ran her fingers through the horse's darkly purple mane.

"Look, there's something tied to the pommel of the saddle."

Nat untied the strong knot and two papers came away in her hands. The larger piece was a rather intricately drawn map, complete with roads, landmarks and any nearby settlements. A couple of places were marked with x's and accompanied by a tiny doodle of a truffle. The girls looked from the map to each other, their eyes wide and their smiles growing.

"What's that other paper?" asked Meghyn.

Her sister unfolded the much smaller piece and stared at the writing which had been hastily scribbled thereon. _To the girls who know good truffles when they see them. I hope the map helps you find what you're looking for, and to help you get there I leave you my horse. She's a good girl, swift and strong, and she will love you if you give her lots of apples and carrots. I left you something else in the saddlebag. The bokoblins won't bother you if you use what you find there_.

Nat pushed both map and note into her sister's hands and dug through the large pouch behind the saddle. She drew something therefrom, took one look at it and dropped it with a shriek as if she'd just touched the business end of a thunder rod.

"What is it, Nat?" Meghyn cried, her heart fluttering in a panic.

The other girl put a hand to her chest as if to calm her own heart. Then she laughed and picked up the item. "I thought it was a real bokoblin head! How silly of me!"

She held it out to her sister, who could see it was a rather good, though obviously homemade, replica of a bokoblin's head, up to and including the horn and the gigantic ears. Nat pulled the orangish mask over her head, her face peeking out below the snout.

"There's another one here, too," she told her sister.

She tossed her a second mask, which Meghyn thought was a particularly sickly shade of green. She looked down at the item and then back to the note she still clutched in her hand. She realized that Nat had quit before she'd read the whole thing.

 _P.S. The horse's name is Truffle_.

~Fin~

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 _And that 'tis the end. I hope you enjoyed this story. Whether you did or not, why not drop me a line or a few in that box down there, hm? I always appreciate feedback from my readers. Merry Christmas to you all, and a happy New Year!_

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12-27-2018 ~ Published


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